U-Blog 5

Well our team gave our presentation this past Monday and I can honestly say I enjoyed it. We gave our presentation on OpenOffice Writer which is similar to Microsoft Word and the class responded very well to it. They were excited about learning to write letters and the different features the program had like spellcheck, changing the text size and color, highlighting, and being able to put the text in bold and italics. By the time I came up to do my part most of the class was moving faster than I could read the steps to them. The class was fascinated with the program overall and they seemed excited about being able to download themselves when they got home. I'm pretty sure everyone in the group was a little nervous at first, but as soon as it was time to start everything fell right in place and everyone stepped up to the plate and delivered. I enjoyed working with the group I was in because everyone did their part and was ready when the time came for us to give our presentation. I hope the other teams' experience goes just as smooth as ours did.

U-Blog 4

As we draw nearer to conducting our technology training I must admit, I begin to grow more excited. I'm looking forward to meeting our audience and teaching them about yet another aspect of personal computer use. At first I was a little apprehensive about having to teach more mature learners, but after talking to some of our classmates that have made the trip already, my concerns have been relieved. So far I've been hearing that they are very eager to learn, very attentive, and not afraid to ask questions and participate. I guess when we were first presented with the idea of having to teach a class, my first thoughts were of the worst possible scenario as if we were going to be teaching 5 year olds. Now that I know that it's going to be exactly the opposite, my expectations are sky high for this project and the class. I was wondering if ther was anyone else that had the same fears or thoughts first going into this project and if so, do you still feel that way at this point?

U-Blog 3

Since the semester started I think IT's Top 5 Training Mistakes has been the most interesting topic to date. It definitely will be helpful for everyone as we head into our forthcoming training project. Peronally, I have been on both sides of the equation and I couldn't agree more with the the top 5 mistakes that were named. Mistake No. 2, 'You're out of tune with your audience.', is the one that struck more close to home than the others with me. I've been involved in more than one training exercise with trainers who are experts on the subject matter at hand, but can't connect with the audience because of their lack of people skills or their lack of ability to effectively communicate. I've also been guilty of this myself when the roles were reversed. Knowing what you want to say, but not knowing the best way to get your point across will definitely hinder the trainer from effectively getting in tune with their audience.

U-Blog 2

I attended Saturday's workshop for Computer Architecture and Resource Center and it was very informative. It was exciting to see the emerging technologies of the future both near and far. Dr. Norris presented to the audience in a very professional yet humorous manner as always. He alone was definitely worth the trip. It was exciting to know that we can be a part of the ideas and projects that were presented during the workshop. Just to name one, there was a voice contolled program that displayed messages, appointments, news and other things all displayed on the television screen. It definitely interesting to say the least. So, if anyone gets the chance to experience this workshop please don't pass it up!

U-Blog 1

This class is definitely rolling along pretty smooth to this point. I'm looking forward to the project that we'll be working on later in the semester. I've worked in that capacity before teaching computer skills. It can be a little challenging at times because there are still some people who don't know the first thing about computers. Seeing that we will be working with the elderly there will have to be a lot more patience involved on my part especially. Is there anyone else out there that may have some tips to offer that may make that ride smoother?

Workplace Learning

I found several websites that I found interesting related to trends in workplace learning and the need to train America's workplace to remain competitive. Some sites discuss new technologies in workplace learning and others discuss America's cconstant battle to stay competitive in the global workforce.

www.linearcollider.org/newsline/files/aci06-booklet.pd

www.creativeworkplacelearning.org/about.html

http://workplacelearningsolutions.net/

www.trainingfoundation.com/page/research/204.htm

Welcome to TSTM J444!